Hi all, my understanding is that most cities in North America were established for one of three reasons - close to trade, close to a natural resource, or easily defended from attack. I'm curious which North American cities were founded mainly for that last reason. My understanding is that Norfolk and Halifax, for example, were critical naval assets for the British.
Thanks in advance!
Quebec city. The cliff highrise of the upper city was established purposefully for its defensible position. Obviously, the city was built on a previous native establishment, hence the city name, Quebec, which roughly translates to where the river narrows. (Encyclopedia canadiana). The advantages of the sentlement was that both, the water access meant that the dock could have an easy access to the open sea, but also that the river did not freeze most of the year, which is not the case with Montreal, for instance. Also, because of the steep cliff, gaining access to the city inner walls was quite difficult even though the city was conquered twice, once by the Kirke brother in 1629 (Quebec civilisation museum), but also in 1759 by the British. In the first event, the city fell mainly due to the lack of supplies. On the second event, it is speculated that thr defeat by the French is in part attributed to their general choosing to exit the city fortification to have a European style row battle. Which they lost in a few minutes due to much lower numbers and the immediate death of their general...
A third attempt to capture the city was made by the newly independent Americans in 1775 which was won after a noteworthy battle within the city walls on December 3, 1775.
To get back to our topic, the city is the only remaining walled North American city.